Model Insects

The teddy bears' pals Oscar, Alfred and Walkerbear went with them on their holiday to Yorkshire this year.

After a very lovely first day, the next day was very different with lots of rain. There is nothing worse than having glum bears about the house and none of them knew what to do. "Never mind about the weather" Scary said brightly, "I've something that will keep you busy for a while - it's a kind of insect puzzle" and he handed the pals an envelope.

As they looked at the puzzle they were curious as to which of the insects on the front they would be making. "You can either wait until you have finished it, or I can tell you what it will be, but either way I think you will like it" Scary said.

After a little chat amongst themselves they decided that they didn't want to know in advance and they would guess as they went along.

Walkerbear read the instructions very carefully and gave Oscar and Alfred details of what to do. Apparently they needed to push out the pieces of coloured foam and put them together in a special order and the pieces made one of the insects shown on the front.

"Easy", said Oscar, "we can do that!" - maybe that was 'famous last words'!

First of all, and very carefully, in the correct order, the green pieces had to be pushed out of the sheets of foam and then slotted together. Walkerbear, being in charge of instructions, told Oscar to push out piece 1 and showed him from the instruction sheet what the shape was. Then Alfred pushed out piece 2 and slotted the pieces together.

There were 20 pieces in all and they took turns pushing them out and slotting them in the correct place on the body of the insect, all according to Walkerbear's instructions.

The fun bit was putting in the wings and the model was becoming more like an insect. "But what about legs? Does this insect not have any?" asked Alfred. "They are last on the list" said Walkerbear, "and there are six of them, but don't get them mixed up as the insect won't stand up properly if you do." So Alfred was given the task of getting the first of the legs out and putting it in place. Then the other legs were added and hey presto! The insect was finished!

"It's only taken us two hours!" said Alfred "And I wonder what it is?" "It's huge!" said Walkerbear "and a tiny bit scary. I also wonder what it is?" Oscar didn't have much idea either so they all looked at Scary to see if he would tell them what it was. "Look at the front of the instruction sheet" he said "and you will see that it is a BEETLE!"

All the bears enjoyed playing with the new beetle.

There are lots of models you can buy - Scary bought his from their local craft shop. Try one out yourselves! They are great fun!